Meet the 69-year-old trekking alone in the wild for 7 weeks

JUST shy of 70-years-old, Helen Turner has no interest in taking it easy.

The Buderim woman is about to set out on an epic 973km journey on foot, alone, carrying everything she needs to survive in the wild for seven weeks.

Her trek along the Bibbulmun Track in Western Australia will take her from Kalamunda, east of Perth, south towards Mandalay Beach, finishing in Albany.

"It's been on the bucket list for a long time and a few months ago I thought 'I can still put one foot in front of the other, so I'm going to do it'," Mrs Turner said.

With less than a week before she sets off, the 69-year-old retiree has been making final preparations and packing and repacking the 16kg bag that will contain everything she needs for seven weeks.

"Weight is the big thing," she said.

"I'm taking the absolute minimum of clothing, the absolute basics.

"I have to take my tent, sleeping bag, sleeping matt, and a little camp stove which I will definitely need for cooking my own food."

She will fill up her water supplies daily at tanks at designated camping areas dotted along the track.

Long-drop toilets and three-sided shelters at the camps will be the only comforts available.

"No laundry, no kitchen, no shop, no shower, no television," she said.

"At night I'll cook something to eat on my little stove and be in my little red tent, snug in a sleeping bag, or maybe outside watching stars and enjoying the solitude."

She will of course have a first aid kit and emergency locator beacon, in case anything goes wrong, and will pick up food supplies she has sent ahead as she goes along.

Now Mrs Turner is excited to be heading into the wilderness by herself.

"The track is becoming more and more well known; there's people on the track constantly so I'll be meeting people as I go along," she said.

"There will be giant trees in the forest, beaches to walk along, dams to swim in, wild flowers blooming, emus crossing the track, inlets to navigate, hills to climb, so much to look forward to."

To prepare Mrs Turner - who has previously hiked in Nepal and on the Milford Track in New Zealand - has been walking and doing some weight training to build up her strength.

Her iPod is charged and loaded up with the perfect walking play-lists to help her get through tough moments, and she will have some extra motivation.

"I'm also doing this as a fund-raiser for Parkinson's Disease," she said.

"My husband has got Parkinson's and it's a cruel disease.

"At the end of a long day when you've still got a couple of kilometres to go and it's cold and wet and you think 'what on earth am I doing this for', having people behind you is an incentive to keep going."